Bringing Inquiry and Community to the Internet LIS 391: Literacy in the Information Age Ann Peterson Bishop Muzhgan Nazarova Inquiry Page Collaborative

Literacy in the Information Age: A Welcoming Attitude Toward Change Innis: Technology is destabilizing long- standing beliefs and ideologies, everyday lives and practices (p. vii) Thoreau: Technology is an improved means to an unimproved ends (p. 6)

Communities of Inquiry Community of Inquiry theory understands knowledge as communally constructed and emergent, proceeding through the interaction of critical and creative thinking Kennedy, 1996

American Pragmatism William James ( ) Charles Sanders Pierce ( ) John Dewey ( ) Jane Adams ( )

American Pragmatism and Theory of Inquiry They all believed that ideas are not “out there” waiting to be discovered, but are tools - like forks and knives and microchips - that people devise to cope with the world in which they find themselves. They believed that the ideas are not produced by the individuals - that ideas are social. Louis Menand, 2001

The Cycle of Inquiry

Communities of Inquiry A group (a social setting) of individuals who use dialogue (interaction among participants) to search out the problematic borders of a puzzling concept (inquiry as philosophical) Turgeon, 1998

Community Inquiry Labs A place where members of a community come together to develop shared capacity and work on common problems. "Community" = support for collaborative activity and for creating knowledge that is connected to people's values, history, and lived experiences. "Inquiry" = support for open-ended, democratic, participatory engagement. "Laboratory" = a space and resources to bring theory and action together in an experimental and critical manner. A CIL is most importantly a concept…

Community Inquiry Labs Web-based suite of Open Source software tools to support collaboration and communication (e.g., bulletin board, document uploading, calendar, inquiry units) People create CILs (websites) on their own, to support their activities within and among groups Inquiry units = lesson plans, action plans, meeting minutes, research reports, journals, policy statements, etc.

Community Inquiry Lab Goals How can we: a)connect learning & life? b)support participatory design? c)accommodate diversity & shared values?

Connect Learning and Life: ESLARP ESLARP Sample Inquiry Unit ESLARP Sample Inquiry Unit

Support Participatory Design: SisterNet New model for Black women's organizing Wholeness through physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual health Political strategy to resist oppression and shape livable communities Community health fairs, conferences, and learning/action circles

SisterNet’s CIL in Action Taking Action for Water Quality

Accommodate Difference & Shared Values: Paseo Boricua Street Academy

Co-Evolution of Internet Technology Knowledge TechnologyCommunity

Welcoming Attitude Toward Change: Active Participation Every individual must be consulted in such a way, actively not passively, that he himself becomes a part of the process of authority. Dewey, Democracy & Education

Welcoming Attitude Toward Change: Active Participation Using inquiry and the internet in LIS 391: Inquiry Units for student research mand=search&search=liasp3 CILs for group communication, collaboration, content management

CI Track: Perceptions of Students “Learning is not linear; the inquiry cycle allows me to perfect my work, and allow others to input.” “I think the inquiry cycle is in general the learning cycle for me. To have the structure lets you feel through the part of the process you are currently in, and enable the focus of attention to the part of the cycle.”

CI Track: Perceptions of Students “…In addition, the CIL allows for distant people to come together around the shared interest of a topic. Also, the CIL encourages the involvement by allowing for different interpretation of the information and its evolution by the members of the CIL.”

Resources Bishop, Ann., Bazzell, Imani., Mehra, Bharat., & Smith, Cynthia. (2001). Afya: Social and Digital Technologies That Reach Across the Digital Divide. First Monday, 6(4). Bruce, B. C., & Bishop, A. P. (2002, May). Using the web to support inquiry- based literacy development. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 45(8). Clark, G. (1994). Rescuing the discourse of community. College Composition and Communication, 45(1), 61–74. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Macmillan. Glassman, M Dewey and Vygotsky: Society, experience, and inquiry in educational practice. Educational Researcher, 30(4), 3-14.

Resources Kennedy, D. (1996). Early Child Development and Care. Western Carolina University. 120, Reardon, K. M. (1998). Participatory action research as service learning. In R. A. Rhoads and J. P. F. Howard, eds., Academic service learning: A pedagogy of action and reflection (pp ). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Rinaldo, R. (2002). Space of resistance: The Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Humboldt Park. Cultural Critique, 50, Turgeon, W. (1998). Metaphysical horizons of philosophy for Children. Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy. Boston, MA August